James Harden has agreed to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year, $97million contract after the 11-time NBA All-Star declined his $42.3million player option for next season in June.

Harden, who will turn 37 years old next week, was acquired by Cleveland on February 4 in a blockbuster trade that sent Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The 2017-18 league MVP appeared in 26 regular-season games with the Cavaliers and averaged 20.5 points, 7.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds.

Cleveland went 19-7 with Harden in the line-up and secured the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference before being swept in the conference finals by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks.

Harden appeared in all 18 of the Cavaliers’ postseason contests and averaged 19.2 points and 5.1 rebounds while leading the team with 5.5 assists and 1.72 steals per game.

He ranks ninth in NBA history with 29,339 career points and is second on the all-time list for 3-pointers made with 3,390 behind Stephen Curry (4,248).

Harden’s 8,627 free throws are the third-most in NBA history behind Karl Malone (9,787) and LeBron James (8,882), and he is 12th all-time with 8,873 assists.

BREAKING: James Harden has agreed to a new three-year, $97 million contract to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a player option and a trade kicker, agents Mike Silverman, Troy Payne and Brandon Grier of Equity Sports told ESPN. pic.twitter.com/b9jnBykly8

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 20, 2026